This series draws on the rich discussions that have taken place over recent decades with respect to the anthropology of the United States. It aims to explore not only social movements but the undercurrents of excitement that may be seen as the precursors of social transformation: union organizing and its relation to the wider community, immigrant workers addressing restrictive laws and claiming space for their children, community gardens wrung from the ever-rising cost of real estate, salsa and other neighborhood music that may build new immigrant social and political networks, and critical artistic visions expressed in wall paintings, theater, and poetry to express the complex reactions of the upcoming youth to the precariousness of employment and living conditions of the current era.

We welcome ethnographic research capturing the re-inventions of kinship and the family, gender, marriage and reproduction which continue to reflect fundamental divisions in the U.S. imagination. We seek projects on topics ranging from environmental racism to collective urban protest. At core, we are interested in highlighting the engaged approach to anthropology that has re-emerged as a central theme in the 2000s, a perspective that allows the researcher to tackle theoretical issues while simultaneously observing and participating in transformative movements.